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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Understanding the effect of crystal anisotropy on grain growth, texturing and transport via the orthorhombic ?-U system [Slides]

The alpha phase of uranium exhibits the orthorhombic crystal structure, resulting in significant physical property anisotropy. These complex properties make the material challenging to work with in engineering settings but provide a rich arena to investigate the fundamental, multi-scale effects of anisotropy on physical behaviors such as grain growth and microstructure evolution under irradiation. We apply molecular dynamics and phase field modeling to study mass transport and grain growth in alpha-uranium. We characterize the mobilities of crystalline defects and the interfacial energy, and We find that the grain boundary energy is highly variable depending on the interface structure and that the relative rates of defect transport change with temperature. We also find that anisotropic thermal expansion has a significant impact on grain growth kinetics and texture development. Our results are used to explain experimental observations and to provide a basis for further hypotheses into the complex physical behavior of alpha-uranium.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multiscale modeling of packed-bed microwave reactors and estimation of intrinsic materials' permittivity

Modeling of packed-bed microwave reactors relies on an accurate representation of particle size, shape, and distribution within the bed, as well as the particles' dielectric properties. The measured permittivity of microwave susceptors (powders or structured materials) depends on the geometric features of the particles and the porosity of the bed, as well as the specific form factor of a structured material. These are effective properties and cannot be used to analyze other reactor configurations unless the geometric effects are removed. Therefore, we introduce a methodology for extracting the intrinsic particle permittivity from experimentally measured effective permittivity by combining cavity-based measurements with multiscale simulations and machine learning. Further, we develop the first multiscale model of packed-bed microwave reactors that incorporate particle effects (geometric features, random packing, and particle contact). This approach bridges macroscopic observables with mesoscopic physics, enabling analysis of local hotspots, arcing, and contact effects that control reactor performance. Using polymer-based spherical activated carbon (PBSAC) and silicon carbide (SiC) as examples, we demonstrate that the inferred particle permittivity is consistent with independent experimental heating profiles we collect from microwave reactors without adjustable parameters. Finally, this methodology establishes a foundation for predictive, multiscale design of microwave packed-bed reactors that explicitly accounts for particle-scale effects, enabling the estimation of intrinsic permittivity for the first time.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Demonstration of Vertical 2T-nC FeRAM Hybrid Cell and Its Scalability for High-Density 3-D Ferroelectric Capacitor Memory

In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental and modeling study on the scaling of vertical 2T-nC ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) hybrid cells, comprising n metal-ferroelectric–metal (MFM) capacitors, to demonstrate a high-performance and high-density 3-D capacitor memory. Our contributions include: 1) successful process integration of vertical 2T-3C FeRAM cells by stacking MFM structures on top of Si CMOS transistors; 2) experimental validation of memory cell functionality, confirming the feasibility of the vertical 2T-nC FeRAM architecture; 3) an analysis of scaling effects on parasitic capacitance in densely integrated 3-D arrays, using 3-D technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations; 4) exploration of aggressive stacking of write bitlines (WBLs) to enhance memory density, where ferroelectric linear capacitance ( C FE ) enables self-boosted inhibition under the V W /2 scheme, but renders the V W /3 scheme ineffective due to intolerable write disturbances; and 5) assessment of horizontal scaling, revealing significant increases in read disturbances caused by interplane capacitance between adjacent WBLs ( C Z ). This work represents an early exploration into the potential of 2T-nC FeRAM as a scalable and efficient 3-D memory solution.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Concept of Dynamic Heat Insulation for Rotating Detonation Engines

This work introduces a new class of materials concept to dynamically reduce instantaneous heat fluxes in Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) combustor chamber walls. The high-frequency and high-amplitude surface heat fluxes observed in RDEs arise from large instantaneous temperature differences between the detonation shockwave and chamber wall surface. These temperature gradients drive substantial energy loss and reduce the chamber gas pressure, ultimately limiting the cycle’s thermodynamic efficiency. This work introduces a concept for dynamically insulating the combustion chamber surfaces using surface layers or coatings with low thermal time scale. With such coatings, the surface temperature may follow the fluctuations of the cyclic detonation wave temperature, thus reducing the instantaneous heat flux therefore cycle-mean heat flux. To analyze these cyclic thermal phenomena, a one-dimensional analytical conduction solver was utilized with the capability to handle multilayered structures. Parametric modeling was performed using transient heat flux boundary conditions representative of a hydrogen–air RDE across a broad range of coating thermal properties and engine conditions. The coating effectiveness scaled with the product of thermal time constant and detonation wave frequency and the results were non-dimensionalized to guide future materials development. This strategy may offer benefits in increasing material survivability, reducing cooling requirements, and enhancing pressure gain.

heat transfer↗
DOE OSTI2025

Solar neutrinos and the strongest oscillation constraints on scalar NSI

Scalar non-standard neutrino interactions (sNSI) is a scenario where neutrinos can develop a medium dependent contribution to their mass due to a new scalar mediator. This scenario differs from the commonly discussed vector mediator case in that the oscillation effect scales with density rather than density and neutrino energy. Thus the strongest oscillation constraint comes from solar neutrinos which experience the largest density in a neutrino oscillation experiment. We derive constraints on all the sNSI parameters as well as the absolute neutrino mass scale by combining solar and reactor data and find solar neutrinos to be > 1 order of magnitude more sensitive to sNSI than terrestrial probes such as long-baseline experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

One-loop analysis of β decays in SMEFT

We perform a loop-level analysis of charged-current (CC) processes involving light leptons and quarks within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). This work is motivated by the high precision reached in experiment and Standard Model calculations for CC decays of mesons, neutron, and nuclei, and by a lingering tension in the Cabibbo universality test. We identify the SMEFT operators that induce the largest loop-level contributions to CC processes. These include four-quark and four-fermion semileptonic operators involving two third-generation quarks. We discuss the available constraints on the relevant effective couplings and along the way we derive new loop-level bounds from K → πν$\overline{v}$ on four-quark operators involving two top quarks. We find that low-energy CC processes are quite competitive with other probes, set constraints that do not depend on flavor-symmetry assumptions, and probe operators involving third-generation quarks up to effective scales of Λ ≃ 8 TeV. Finally, we briefly discuss single-field ultraviolet completions that could induce the relevant operators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Precision e + e − hemisphere masses in the dijet region with power corrections

We derive high-precision results for the e + e − heavy jet mass (HJM) dσ/dρ and dihemisphere mass (DHM) d 2 σ/(ds 1 ds 2 ) distributions, for s 1 ~ s 2 , in the dijet region. New results include: i) the N 3 LL resummation for HJM of large logarithms ln n (ρ) at small ρ including the exact two-loop non-global hemisphere soft function, the 4-loop cusp anomalous dimension and the 3-loop hard and jet functions, ii) N 3 LL results for DHM with resummation of logarithms ln(s 1,2 /Q 2 ) when there is no large separation between s 1 and s 2 , iii) profile functions for HJM to give results simultaneously valid in the peak and tail regions, iv) a complete two-dimensional basis of non-perturbative functions which can be used for double differential observables, that are needed for both HJM and DHM in the peak region, and v) an implementation of renormalon subtractions for large-angle soft radiation to $\mathcal{O}$ (α$^{3}_{s}$) together with a resummation of the additional large ln(Qρ/Λ QCD ) logarithms. Here Q is the e + e − center-of-mass energy. Our resummation results are combined with known fixed-order $\mathcal{O}$ (α$^{3}_{s}$) results and we discuss the convergence and remaining perturbative uncertainty in the cross section. We also prove that, at order 1/Q, the first moment of the HJM distribution involves an additional non-perturbative parameter compared to the power correction that shifts the tail of the spectrum (where 1 ≫ ρ ≫ Λ QCD /Q). This differs from thrust where a single non-perturbative parameter at order 1/Q describes both the first moment and the tail, and it disfavors models of power corrections employing a single non-perturbative parameter, such as the low-scale effective coupling model. In this paper we focus only on the dijet region, not the far-tail distribution for ρ ≳ 0.2 beyond which the trijet factorization and resummation become important.

Factorization↗
DOE OSTI2024

Weak-form inference for hybrid dynamical systems in ecology

Species subject to predation and environmental threats commonly exhibit variable periods of population boom and bust over long timescales. Understanding and predicting such behaviour, especially given the inherent heterogeneity and stochasticity of exogenous driving factors over short timescales, is an ongoing challenge. A modelling paradigm gaining popularity in the ecological sciences for such multi-scale effects is to couple short-term continuous dynamics to long-term discrete updates. We develop a data-driven method utilizing weak-form equation learning to extract such hybrid governing equations for population dynamics and to estimate the requisite parameters using sparse intermittent measurements of the discrete and continuous variables. The method produces a set of short-term continuous dynamical system equations parametrized by long-term variables, and long-term discrete equations parametrized by short-term variables, allowing direct assessment of interdependencies between the two timescales. We demonstrate the utility of the method on a variety of ecological scenarios and provide extensive tests using models previously derived for epizootics experienced by the North American spongy moth ( Lymantria dispar dispar ).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

OReole-FM: successes and challenges toward billion-parameter foundation models for high-resolution satellite imagery

While the pretraining of Foundation Models (FMs) for remote sensing (RS) imagery is on the rise, models remain restricted to a few hundred million parameters. Scaling models to billions of parameters has been shown to yield unprecedented benefits including emergent abilities, but requires data scaling and computing resources typically not available outside industry R&D labs. In this work, we pair high-performance computing resources including Frontier supercomputer, America's first exascale system, and high-resolution optical RS data to pretrain billion-scale FMs. Our study assesses performance of different pretrained variants of vision Transformers across image classification, semantic segmentation and object detection benchmarks, which highlight the importance of data scaling for effective model scaling. Moreover, we discuss construction of a novel TIU pretraining dataset, model initialization, with data and pretrained models intended for public release. By discussing technical challenges and details often lacking in the related literature, this work is intended to offer best practices to the geospatial community toward efficient training and benchmarking of larger FMs.

Ambrozio Dias, Philipe↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tusqh

SAND2025-00675O Tusqh is a software tool that generates cubical meshes in 2D and 3D and computes the homology of these meshes using persistent homology. It includes a grid cell in the output if its volume-fraction is above a selectable threshold, estimated by sampling points within the cell. Tusqh incorporates anti-aliasing algorithms to mitigate grid orientation and scale effects. It is designed for creating finite element meshes for simulations and can be used in various applications such as heat diffusion, mechanical simulations, and computer graphics rendering. The software outputs meshes in an open format compatible with downstream software. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

SciDAC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Mitigating Transition in the Fermilab Booster Using a Triple Phase Jump

The PIP-II project will significantly enhance neutrino production for DUNE, Fermilab’s flagship long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, by doubling the beam power delivered by the accelerator complex. To achieve this, the total charge injected from the new PIP-II linac into the Booster rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) will increase from $4.5\times 10^{12}$ to $6.5\times 10^{12}$ protons per pulse. Simultaneously, the Booster’s ramp rate will rise from 15 to 20 Hz, while the injection energy will go from 400 MeV to 800 MeV. The Booster accelerates the beam to 8 GeV and crosses transition at $\gamma_t=5.45$. In current operations, no dedicated $\gamma_t$ jump system is employed; instead, longitudinal emittance growth is controlled via an active quadrupole-mode feedback system. Downstream, the Recycler Ring uses slip-stacking to accumulate beam and increase bunch intensity. However, this process imposes a constraint on the longitudinal emittance at Booster extraction, limiting it to 0.1 eV-s (95\%) to avoid excessive particle loss. Because collective effects scale with intensity, additional measures to mitigate transition crossing may be required to stay below this limit. One potential approach is the so-called triple phase-jump technique. While the method has known limitations, it offers some advantages: it can be implemented using the existing digital low-level RF (LLRF) system, requires no additional magnets or pulsed power supplies, and remains compatible with quadrupole-mode feedback.

Ostiguy, J.-F. [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000290883681)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Extraction of Drell-Yan Angular Parameters in $pp$ Collisions with a 120 GeV Beam Energy Using a Deep-Learning Unfolding Algorithm

Dilepton production in pp collisions through the Drell-Yan process provides a crucial tool for studying the internal quark-gluon structure of the nucleon. By precisely measuring the $\cos2\phi$ asymmetry, where $\phi$ represents the azimuthal angle of the $l^{+}l^{-}$ pair in the Collins-Soper frame, we can gain valuable insights into the proton’s structure and the transverse momentum ($q_{T}$) dependence of the $\cos2\phi$ asymmetry. SeaQuest, a fixed-target Drell-Yan experiment at Fermilab, involved an unpolarized proton beam colliding with unpolarized LH$_{2}$ and LD$_{2}$ targets. Measurements obtained from experiments typically require corrections for detector inefficiencies, smearing, and acceptance. Traditionally, these corrections involve “unfolding” the detector-level measurements through matrix operations. However, in higher-dimensional phase space, these conventional methods fail to scale effectively. To overcome these limitations, we employ an unbinned unfolding method that utilizes deep neural networks for unfolding higher-dimensional phase space. In this presentation, we will explain the design of the neural network architecture, our training strategies, and outline our plans to achieve conclusive results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Multimodal Atomic Force Microscopy for the Characterization of Metallic Particulates

This study investigates the utility of multimodal, or functional, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the characterization of individual particles and particle ensembles. In single-particle analyses, AFM imaging modes provided orthogonal insights into mechanical and magnetic properties that are not accessible through conventional electron microscopy. Although the experiments were inherently delicate and time-intensive, with an observed sample loss rate of approximately 30%, these techniques enabled the qualitative differentiation of grain structures and magnetic domains, underscoring the challenges of experimental robustness. For particle ensembles, AFM enabled the extraction of reliable 2D and 3D particle size distributions. However, efforts to chemically differentiate particles based on mechanical property contrasts were limited by scaling effects and the qualitative nature of the data. Overall, multimodal AFM offers valuable complementary information, but its application requires careful consideration of methodological limitations, particularly for sample integrity, calibration, and scalability of mechanical and magnetic measurements. This report is organized to first address the application of AFM to single-particle analysis using various imaging modalities, followed by its potential role in ensemble-level particle screening and differentiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mitigating Transition in the Fermilab Booster Using a Triple Phase Jump

The PIP-II project will significantly enhance neutrino production for DUNE, Fermilab s flagship long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, by doubling the beam power delivered by the accelerator complex. To achieve this, the total charge injected from the new PIP-II linac into the Booster rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS) will increase from $4.5\times 10^{12}$ to $6.5\times 10^{12}$ protons per pulse. Simultaneously, the Booster s ramp rate will rise from 15 to 20 Hz, while the injection energy will go from 400 MeV to 800 MeV. The Booster accelerates the beam to 8 GeV and crosses transition at $\gamma_t=5.45$. In current operations, no dedicated $\gamma_t$ jump system is employed; instead, longitudinal emittance growth is controlled via an active quadrupole-mode feedback system. Downstream, the Recycler Ring uses slip-stacking to accumulate beam and increase bunch intensity. However, this process imposes a constraint on the longitudinal emittance at Booster extraction, limiting it to 0.1 eV-s (95\%) to avoid excessive particle loss. Because collective effects scale with intensity, additional measures to mitigate transition crossing may be required to stay below this limit. One potential approach is the so-called triple phase-jump technique. While the method has known limitations, it offers some advantages: it can be implemented using the existing digital low-level RF (LLRF) system, requires no additional magnets or pulsed power supplies, and remains compatible with quadrupole-mode feedback.

Ostiguy, Jean-Francois [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000029↗
DOE OSTI2026

MINERvA open-data product

MINERvA is THE neutrino cross section experiment Scintillator tracker/calorimeter ran in the NuMI beam at Fermilab same beam as the MINOS and NOvA oscillation experiments With our data, we are solving systematic shortcomings in neutrino interaction rate/spectra that are the largest part of the systematic uncertainty in today s (and tomorrow s) measurements. Some aspects have NO equivalent in the neutrino program future. Scientific scope includes both particle and nuclear physics GeV scale cross sections, A dependence, MeV scale effects most published measurements for a neutrino experiments ever (well, tied with T2K) with 25% more papers in the pipeline.

Gran, Rik [Minnesota U., Duluth] (ORCID:0000000216↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum Gravity and Laser Interferometry: Towards Observable Predictions

Understanding quantum gravity remains one of the deepest challenges in modern physics, as direct experimental access to Planck-scale effects is beyond current technological reach. However, recent theoretical advances indicate that quantum fluctuations of spacetime may produce measurable effects in precision experiments, particularly near causal horizons. This opens new avenues for testing quantum gravity phenomena through high-precision measurement techniques. This dissertation develops multiple theoretical models to characterize these effects and examines their potential observational signatures in future gravitational wave interferometers. We begin by investigating the role of quantum fluctuations in near-horizon geometries through the lens of the AdS/CFT correspondence, which provides a powerful framework for understanding the interplay between quantum field theory and general relativity via holographic principles. By modeling stochastic energy-momentum sources in Rindler-AdS spacetime, we demonstrate that vacuum fluctuations transform the Einstein equations into a Langevin-type stochastic differential equation, leading to potentially observable fluctuations in photon traversal times. Extending this approach to Minkowski spacetime, we establish a correspondence between gravitational shockwaves and fluid dynamics, showing that near-horizon perturbations satisfy an equation analogous to that governing incompressible fluids, thereby reinforcing the membrane paradigm and hydrodynamic analogies in the context of the fluid/gravity duality. Furthermore, we construct the covariant phase space of a spherically symmetric causal diamond in Minkowski spacetime, identifying two fundamental charges that govern its evolution. These results provide a foundation for quantizing causal horizons and understanding their microscopic degrees of freedom. Building upon these theoretical developments, we further examine a related stochastic phenomenon: the gravitational wave memory background arising from the cumulative memory steps produced by supermassive black hole mergers. After reviewing the standard stochastic gravitational wave background, gravitational memory effects, and BMS symmetries, we model the stochastic memory background using a Brownian motion framework. We show that while the cumulative memory background initially appears above the sensitivity curve of space-based interferometers like LISA, the realistic subtraction of individually resolvable merger events substantially suppresses the residual signal, making its detection more challenging. This highlights the critical importance of source subtraction when evaluating the detectability of gravitational memory effects. By bridging fundamental theory with experimental prospects, this dissertation contributes to the ongoing effort to uncover the quantum nature of spacetime through precision measurement techniques. Whether through detecting quantum spacetime fluctuations, gravitational memory backgrounds, or probing the symmetries of causal horizons, the pursuit of observable quantum gravity phenomena continues to expand the frontiers of both theory and experiment.

Zhang, Yiwen [Caltech] (ORCID:0000000323559416)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rare Lepton Decays and Differentiable Hadronization Models - From Signatures of New Physics to Data-driven Event Generation

This dissertation is partitioned into two parts: phenomenological studies focused on rare lepton decays as probes of heavy and light new physics, and the development of differentiable, data-driven hadronization models. Part I develops the phenomenology of new physics signatures stemming from rare charged lepton flavor violating decays probed by experiments at the intensity frontier. These include interactions mediated by both high-scale effective operators and light new physics, manifesting in multi-lepton final states ($\mu \to 5e$), elastic nuclear transitions ($\mu \to e$ conversion), baryon-number-violating muon capture, and time-dependent signals from ultralight dark matter ($\mu \to e \phi, \tau \to \ell \phi$). Part II develops two distinct strategies for advancing differentiable and data-driven hadronization models. One involves comprehensive reweighting frameworks for hadronization that enable efficient uncertainty estimation, facilitate parameter tuning, and interface naturally with differentiable programming paradigms. The other introduces machine-learning-based methods for extracting microscopic fragmentation dynamics directly from macroscopic observables through the deformation of existing models -- effectively providing solutions to the inverse problem of hadronization. Altogether, these studies advance the interpretability, flexibility, and precision of theoretical predictions for both high-intensity and high-energy experiments.

Menzo, Tony [Cincinnati U.] (ORCID:000000022013457↗
DOE OSTI2025

Informing field-scale CO 2 storage simulations with sandbox experiments: The effect of small-scale heterogeneities

Small-scale heterogeneities can significantly affect the fate of the CO 2 plume and trapping during CO 2 migration. We conducted geologic carbon storage field-scale simulations to investigate the impact of small-scale heterogeneities on plume dynamics and trapping performance. Small-scale heterogeneities have been shown to increase the amount of trapped CO 2 during buoyancy-driven flow. The trapped CO 2 saturation is validated by previous sandbox experimental work during buoyancy-driven flow in realistic heterogeneous domains and is implemented through the critical CO 2 saturation parameter (i.e., the first non-zero value in the drainage CO 2 relative permeability curve). Depending on the type and degree of heterogeneity, various critical CO 2 saturation values are exhibited. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of small-scale heterogeneities when multiple capillary pressure models are employed. This study demonstrates that an increase in critical CO 2 saturation reduces the CO 2 plume size and lateral extent, accompanying an increase in residual trapping and a decrease in solubility trapping. Lastly, we show that independent of the capillary pressure model used, an increase in critical saturation leads to similar CO 2 plume dynamics distribution and trapping performance. These results emphasize the importance of quantifying the effect of small-scale heterogeneity as they affect the large-scale behavior of the CO 2 plume.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗